Cover Story
Students and faculty learn to take control with new active shooter safety protocols
On Tuesday, Jan. 15, San Luis Obispo High School is buzzing with students getting from first period to second. After students reach their destinations, campus is silent except for the light rain hitting the pavement. Fifteen minutes into the class period, an announcement comes over the public address system: “We are currently in a drill,…
Angie and the Nightmares promote debut album at Naughty Oak in Orcutt
Don’t forget to bring your Inception totem to the Angie and the Nightmares performance on Friday, Feb. 15, at 6 p.m. at Naughty Oak Brewing Co. in Orcutt. The real nightmare would be if that spinning top of yours just keeps spinning, uh-oh! You realize you’re not even at the show, you’re asleep on the…
Ravynn Anielski
This Pioneer Valley High School basketball player leads her team in more than just points. Ravynn Anielski, a junior, has played varsity every year of her high school basketball career, and averages about 19 points a game, according to coach Ashley Sandoval. Anielski has scored a whopping total of 441 points so far this season.…
Carbajal brings Foodbank CEO to State of the Union
Throughout and after the most recent government shutdown, the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County distributed more than 21,000 pounds of food to 458 families of local furloughed federal employees. That’s the kind of work U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) said he hoped to highlight at President Donald Trump’s second State of the Union address…
Lompoc Civic Theatre to present Bloomsday
The Lompoc Civic Theatre announced its newest production, Bloomsday, will debut in March. Bloomsday is a time-traveling love story set in Dublin and written by Steven Dietz. In the play, Robert returns to Dublin to reconnect with Cait, a woman who captured his heart 35 years ago during a tour focused on James Joyce. The…
Festive Nesting Handmade Gifts
Ashlee Clark-McCaffrey and her family had already participated in various craft fairs over the years, showcasing their homemade soap and wedding favors, before deciding to start their own. The annual Orcutt Holiday Craft Fair originated in 2015 out of Clark-McCaffrey’s home and usually features more than 40 local artisans. After a successful four years, with…
Former Santa Maria student works toward doctoral degree as prestigious McNair Scholar
After a summer of researching and observing animal behavior, Angelika Pasion discovered two things that humans and Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs have in common: They love to eat and sleep. “It’s similar to humans, which I thought was pretty funny,” Pasion told the Sun. Pasion, a Pioneer Valley High School alumna, is now in her third…
Political Watch Feb. 7, 2019
• On Jan. 30, state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) introduced legislation to ensure that local governments meet the cultural and linguistic needs of all residents in their emergency preparations. Senate Bill 160 directs government bodies to incorporate cultural competency into their emergency plans by integrating interpreters and translators in emergency communications, incorporating representatives from…
New facility in Nipomo would target citrus psyllid
To prevent the bug that ruined Florida’s citrus industry from taking hold in South San Luis Obispo County, Bee Sweet Citrus plans to build a facility that could wash and wax harvested citrus before it’s transported farther south. The 14,900-square-foot facility was part of the South County Advisory Council’s consent agenda on Jan. 28, and…
Supervisors mull changes to local vendor bid policy
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors is mulling a proposal to amend the county’s local vendor preference policy. The policy, which has been in place for nearly 14 years, allows the county to take higher bids for tangible goods if the vendor is local. According to county staff, the proposed amendment would not end…
As Santa Barbara Airport expands, service at Santa Maria’s remains stagnant
The coming year could be a record-breaking one for the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport, which has seen some major expansion throughout the past eight months and even in the last few weeks. Despite many efforts to do the same at the Santa Maria Public Airport, little progress has been made. On Jan. 28, Delta Air…
Trolling for oil
If you could invite one guest to the State of the Union address to make a political statement, who would it be? A DACA Dreamer? A Lompoc Federal Correctional Institution employee who was forced to work without pay? How about someone who served at the U.S. Coast Guard Station in Morro Bay? Let’s face it,…
On being open minded
In my attempt to understand why some people think and act the way that they do, I have been reading on Wikipedia and various other sites about the occurrence of cognitive dissonance over the past few years. I discovered that one way cognitive dissonance (mental discomfort/psychological stress) can occur is when one’s beliefs, ideas, and…
Oceano deserves an equal opportunity to comment
The city of Pismo Beach wants to build an advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant (Central Coast Blue) in Oceano. This is a form of discriminatory land use that disproportionately overburdens Oceano, an underserved community, with inequitable distribution of environmental pollution. The state of California would call it a form of environmental injustice. Oceano has an excellent…
Fifty years later
I took time on Jan. 27 to travel to Santa Barbara and attend the 50 Years After the Santa Barbara Oil Spill: A Call to Action event at the Arlington Theater, thinking I might learn something. Sadly, I watched a spectacle that evolved into a We Hate President Trump Festival. Speaker after speaker condemned various…
Sourdough bread is a great way to get into home baking
One of my personal commitments for 2019 is to have a better relationship with my food. By that I mean, to understand where it comes from, what it is made with, and what it does to my body. Most importantly, I want to start making more of my own food—growing my own vegetables, making my…
Addressing the lure of technology for youth
Many of us have a love-hate relationship with our cell phones. We love the immediate access to information and the ability to quickly text a friend. But we dislike when we’re driving and everyone else in the car is absorbed on their devices, or when we’re talking with someone who constantly checks their phone. It…
Alice Murphy’s striking sketches of horses reveal her lifelong passion
A pair of wild dark eyes peeks out from behind a whisp of hair. The eyes have a light within them, almost as if they recognize you, an utter impossibility for a piece of art. The drawing is the work of Alice Murphy, a sketch artist who is a new member of Gallery Los Olivos.…
Santa Maria Arts Council arts grants open for submission
The Santa Maria Arts Council is currently accepting applications for the 2019 Grants in the Arts Competition. More than $13,000 in grants are available to amateur artists 12 years old and older who have studied art in Northern Santa Barbara Country for a minimum of two years. Categories include dance, drama, music, and visual…
Fossemalle Dance Studio celebrates Marta Becket with performance
To celebrate what would have been choreographer and dancer Marta Becket’s 51st season at the Amargosa Opera House, the Fossemalle Dance studio is holding a performance in her honor. Becket, who danced well into her 80s and died in 2017, will be celebrated in dance by performers from the Fossemalle Dance Studio including…
Mindbenders
The Clairvoyants (Amélie van Tass and Thommy Ten) are a pair of Austrian performers who tour the country entertaining audiences with their uncanny ability to read minds and make predictions, often while blindfolded or suspended in air. In 2015, they appeared on America’s Got Talent, sharing the stage with co-host Heidi Klum. They eventually came…
Cuckoo for Cocobilli
You only need two ingredients to make Cocobilli, and neither of them is legally edible. The recipe is simple, one French drummer and one Mississippi bassist, but the blend is far from frothy. The aggressive blues/rock duo made up of Coco Roussel and Billi Breland often add a third ingredient to the mix when touring…
Plains All American pitches an oil pipeline replacement project; environmental groups promise to oppose it
As Plains All American Pipeline prepares to make the case for its proposal to replace more than 100 miles of oil pipeline across three counties, environmental groups are gearing up to fight against its approval. If approved, the project would allow the company to replace 123 miles of existing pipeline through SLO, Santa Barbara, and…
Pedal power?
“I’ve tried to ride my bicycle occasionally on Broadway and Main Street, and you take your life in your own hands if you try that.” Santa Maria City Councilmember Michael Moates was only half joking when he made the comment at a Jan. 15 council meeting. The two roads—which, in reality, are both sections of…
